4 First Steps to Writing a Marketable Children's Book

Carolyn Howard-Johnson shares writers’ resources on her award-winning blog Sharing with Writers

 Contributed by Karen Cioffi, Children’s Ghostwriter, Editor, and Coach

 Writing books is a business. The same goes for writing magazine articles, copywriting, and so on. 

Any time you write with the thought of selling what you’re writing, it becomes a business.

It’s not that the marketing end of your writing should put a damper on your muse, but there are a few key marketing components that you need to keep in mind when writing.

1. The very first component is your audience.

It’s been said over and over that you need to have a target market – a target audience for your book.

Well, if you’re not sure, imagine you wrote a story about your Alaskan adventure.

Who do you think would be interested in it? Who do you think would buy your book?

Now imagine you wrote a children’s fantasy chapter book. 

Same questions.

But the answers will be different.

In an article at Live, Write, Thrive, the author takes this a step further. She advises you to analyze your ‘perfect’ reader. Find out what he likes. Does he have any pets? Does she like sports or music? What about her family and school? What about friends? The deeper you go, the better.

With the answers to these questions, you can craft a story tailored toward that reader. Or you can include tidbits that a particular reader can relate to in a story you are already writing.

Maybe your reader is a junior lifeguard and cross-country runner. And he has an eighty-pound, former bronco-jumping Bernedoodle.

With this knowledge, you can craft a story that incorporates elements relative to the readers’ age group without detracting from the story’s creative process.

2. Have a great theme.

First, what is theme?

One explanation of theme is from MasterClass: “In simpler stories, the theme may be a moral or message: ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover.’ In more complex stories, the central theme is typically a more open-ended exploration of some fundamental aspect of society or humanity.”

The theme should be subtly woven into your story.

But there are occasions when you don’t know what the theme of your story is until it’s complete. 

Six of the most common themes are:

-Good vs. evil
-Love
-Redemption
-Courage 
-Coming of age
-Revenge

As a children’s ghostwriter, the themes I see most often from clients are:

-Be who you are
-Acceptance
-Being a good friend and making friends
-Kindness
-Bullying
-Environment

For a children’s writer or someone who wants to write their own children’s book, the themes tend to focus on raising awareness in children. The themes usually focus on teaching and guiding children.

Your theme should be like a ghost, invisible. But like the wind, you can feel it. You know it’s there.

3. Be different.

It’s challenging to come up with a unique story. Everything that can go on in life has been written about. 

So, how do you keep your story fresh?

One good way to do this is to study recently published books in your genre. Make the bulk of them traditionally published, since they had to get past the gatekeepers.

There are two reasons for researching traditionally published books:

A. As mentioned, the storyline and writing will be good…good enough to make it past the gatekeepers.

B. Publishing houses know what’s being received well and what’s not. They’re doing a lot of research that you can take advantage of.

After you research your contenders, buckle down and write a better story, one that has a different spin. This may take a great deal of effort, but it will make your story stand out; it will make your story unique.

Try to avoid the popular stuff. Think about historical fiction. 

If you go this route, just keep in mind you need an audience that will be interested in it.

You might even get ideas from folktales. Not the ‘overly done’ ones, but older, ancient tales. 

Whatever you write, make it your own.

4. Write a good story.

You can take all the steps necessary to create a marketable children’s book, but if the story isn’t properly written, if you don’t have a good story, those steps will be for naught.

A quick breakdown of the elements needed to write a good story:

-Theme (we discussed this already)
-Plot
-Story structure
-Characters
-Setting
-Style and tone
 
If you have any other tips on writing a marketable children’s book, please put them in the comments.

Sources:
https://www.livewritethrive.com/2014/06/09/3-ways-to-plan-a-marketable-novel/ 
https://www.novel-writing-help.com/what-is-theme.html
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/the-complete-guide-to-narrative-theme-in-literature-definition-examples-and-writing-how-to
https://karencioffiwritingforchildren.com/2015/05/10/make-a-good-story-worthy-of-the-gatekeeper/  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Karen Cioffi is a children’s author, ghostwriter, editor, and self-publishing consultant. If you’d like to learn more about writing for children or need help with your story, visit Writing for Children with Karen Cioffi. 

You can check out Karen’s books HERE.

And connect with Karen on SOCIAL MEDIA. 
 

MORE ABOUT THE BLOGGER Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the multi award-winning author of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. She is also a marketing consultant, editor, and author of the multi award-winning #HowToDoItFrugally Series (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTXQL27T/ ) of books for writers including “The Frugal Book Promoter” (https://bit.ly/FrugalBookPromoIII), and “The Frugal Editor” both offered in their third editions by Modern History Press. Others in that series are “How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically,” and two booklets, both in their second editions also from Modern History Press. The booklets, “Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers” (https://bit.ly/LastMinuteEditsII) and “Great First Impression Book Proposals” (https://bit.ly/BookProposalsII) are career boosters in mini doses and both make ideal thank you gifts for authors. The one on writing book proposals is also available as an Audio Book. “The Frugal Editor “(https://tinyurl.com/TheFrugalEditor), was recently released in its third edition. It is the winningest book in this series for writers. Carolyn also has three frugal books for retailers including one she encourages authors to read because it helps them understand what is needed to convince retailers to host their workshops, presentations, and signings. It is “A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques” (https://bit.ly/RetailersGuide). In addition to this blog, Carolyn helps writers extend the exposure of their favorite reviews at https://TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com. She also blogs all things editing–grammar, formatting and more–at “The Frugal, Smart, and Tuned-In Editor” (https://TheFrugalEditor.blogspot.com). Learn more and follow it to get news on her new releases directly from Amazon at https://bit.ly/CarolynsAmznProfile.